John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In March, the Minister stated the school meals programme was a top priority for him, and I have to take him at his word. The reality, as I outlined, is that schools are being impacted. One school which I brought to the attention of the Department in February is now in the process of carrying out an audit into its spending.

Schools are operating within the same budget as previously. As I outlined, I have spoken to a number of schools which have operated within the same budgets over a number of years and have provided the same level of school meals, but because there was an increase in pupils this year they made inquiries to the Department to try to increase their allocation. At that stage, they were told they would not get an increase but, rather, that there would be a decrease in the amount of funding available.

The school to which I refer is now not in a position to be able to feed the children in the school. I have spoken to many other schools. One school was made aware of the nature of the cuts in September last year and chose to front-load the cuts and not feed children for the entire month of September. It is not the case that the same level of funding is being provided. Schools have operated within tight budgets over many years and it is only in the current school term that they have faced difficulties.

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